Kohl Disavows Any Land Claims on Poland

Reuters

Published: October 22, 1989

BONN, Oct. 21—
Chancellor Helmut Kohl, trying to clear an issue that has cast a shadow on his plans to visit Warsaw next month, said today that West Germany had no territorial claims on Poland.

Mr. Kohl, who leaves for Warsaw on Nov. 9, said Bonn stood firmly by a 1970 agreement with Warsaw that confirmed the territorial integrity of both countries.

''We naturally abide by the letter and spirit of the Warsaw agreement in all its parts,'' he said in a sppech here. ''We cannot and we will not change any legal position. It remains the known constitutional and international legal foundation of our German and East policies.''

Mr. Kohl has been embarrassed by right-wing politicians, including Finance Minister Theo Waigel, who have asked whether German territory ceded to Poland after the war was irrevocably Polish. Pointing to the absence of a peace treaty, they say Germany legally still exists within its 1937 borders. Their claim has stung Polish leaders. Mr. Kohl spoke at a meeting marking the 40th anniversary of an association made up of millions of Germans driven out of Eastern Europe after the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. His speech drew applause and some muffled protests.